Jharkhand Congressmen revolt, demand BPCC chief's ouster

A section of the Congress from Jharkhand, led by Jharkhand Regional Congress Committee vice-president and All-India Congress Committee delegate J P Choudhary, has demanded the immediate ouster of Bihar Pradesh Congress Committee chief Sadanand Singh and JRCC president Sushila Kerketta following the party's poor showing in the Lok Sabha poll.

Holding Singh and Kerketta responsible for the electoral debacle in the state, Choudhary said the two politicians should step down in the party's interests or Congressmen would force them to resign.

Describing Sadanand Singh as 'corrupt' and Kerketta as 'ineffective and self-centred', the dissident Congress politicians said their continuance would be suicidal for the party in the state assembly election, due early next year.

Choudhary told reporters that the two politicians who are now voicing their opinion against the alliance with the Rashtriya Janata Dal were the ones who had misled the party high command for personal political gain.

Choudhary accused Singh of having favoured the 'unholy' alliance since he planned to contest the Jamshedpur seat.

He said he had suggested that the party should break all ties with the RJD and strive to strengthen its own state unit.

The Congress, he said, must initiate immediate steps for its revival in Bihar and prepare for the coming assembly election by agitating against the 'misdeeds' of the 'corrupt and ineffective'
RJD state government.

The party must also strive to create Jharkhand, which alone will help re-establish the ground it has lost in the region, he added.

But BPCC general secretary Anil Kumar Sharma termed these complaints as "baseless and politically motivated".

Dismissing the party leaders' claim, Sharma said in a statement that Sadanand Singh did his best to ensure the victory of the party's candidates.

He warned that the party would be forced to take disciplinary action against those indulging in anti-party activities.

He said the organisation was united behind the state party president and the Congress Legislative Party leader.